Jonathan R Shaw: I represented the United Kingdom at the November Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. The Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, and the Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones also attended.
	The Council reached unanimous political agreement, with the UK voting in favour, on a proposal establishing a multi-annual recovery plan for Bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. The plan transposes into EU legislation the recommendation agreed in November 2006 by the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
	The Agriculture Commissioner presented the Commission Communication "Preparing for the Health Check" of the common agriculture policy (CAP) reform. The communication will build on the approach that began with the 2003 reforms, improve the way the policy operates based on the experience gathered since 2003 and make it fit for the new challenges and opportunities in an EU of 27 member states in 2007. I welcomed the Commission's initiative as an important opportunity further to cut the trade distorting nature of the CAP, reduce regulatory burdens, give farmers greater control over their business decisions, and direct more public spending towards delivery of targeted public benefits.
	The Agriculture Commissioner presented a proposal to reform the EU support scheme in the cotton sector. This proposal will introduce a revised reform of the EU cotton regime following the annulment by the European Court of Justice of the cotton reforms agreed in 2004. She also presented a proposal to temporarily suspend the import duties on certain cereals until 30 June 2008, with the exclusion of oats. I intervened to enter a parliamentary scrutiny reserve and queried why oats was excluded from the scope of the proposal, as it was inconsistent with the Healthcheck paper that says that all cereals should be dealt with in the same way.
	The Fisheries Commissioner presented a proposal on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) and updated Council on the outcome of a recent conference held in Lisbon. I welcomed the Commission's initiative as an opportunity to reduce the regulatory burden of the necessary controls. I also stressed the importance of dealing with the problem and the crucial role that the trade network will play in this regard.
	The Commission also updated the Council on the conclusion of the annual EU/Norway consultations for 2008 and the 2006-08 action plan for simplifying and improving the common fisheries policy. On EU/Norway, I warmly welcomed the Community commitment to reduce discarding in fisheries which catch cod and reducing whiting discards in all fisheries and was pleased with a cod TAC increase of 11 per cent. I regretted the fact that Norway was unable to accept the unanimous pelagic regional advisory council advice on the herring TAC but overall felt it was a fair agreement for the UK and the Community.
	Under any other business, Greece supported by a few member states, called on the Commission to introduce measures (such as income support, intervention measures or transport aids) to support its livestock industry due to the steep rise in costs of animal feed.
	Latvia called on the Commission to use intervention funds to compensate livestock producers for the high cereals prices and to come forward with proposals for "long-term systematic solutions and crisis management" in the context of the Healthcheck.
	France, supported by a few member states, called for further relief measures in the form of export refunds to alleviate the difficulties currently being experienced in the pigmeat sector. The Agriculture Commissioner announced her intentions to submit a proposal to introduce export refunds in the pigmeat sector to the pigmeat management committee on 29 November.
	The Agriculture Commissioner also updated Council on the state of play in the WTO negotiations.
	Over lunch, Ministers had an exchange of views on the Commission's paper analysing the economic impacts of unapproved GMOs on EU feed imports and livestock production. In common with some other member states I argued that while there must be no compromise on maintaining a rigorous assessment and approvals regime for new GM products entering the EU, we should explore the scope for overcoming difficulties in this area and improving the speed with which GM applications are processed.
	In the margins of Council, the presidency and the Commission held trilateral meetings with Agriculture Ministers from the various member states to discuss the Commission's wine reform proposals.

John Denham: I am drawing the attention of the House to a factual error of reporting in relation to the number of employers who have voluntarily made the skills pledge to support the upskilling of their employees.
	On 12 December 2007 the House was informed by the Minister for Skills within Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy), that the number of employees covered by the voluntary pledge was 3.1 million, based on information from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Incorrect figures were used in a small number of other instances in reply to members' questions and in another place. However, I was informed on Friday 14 December by the LSC that the correct figure is 2.3 million and that the mistake was due to a computer programming error which has now been detected and rectified. The LSC has confirmed that the number of employers making the skills pledge (630) was correct. I apologise to the House unreservedly for this inadvertent error. I am also writing to Members who were given the incorrect figure.
	The LSC's internal quality assurance processes identified this programming error. However, I have asked the LSC chief executive to ensure through a rigorous review of his organisation's information and reporting systems that there is no recurrence of this problem. This review will report to me in January 2008 as part of my ongoing considerations on the future leadership and management of the skills pledge and its contribution to making the skills of the workforce world class.